On opening day of the Star Trek Las Vegas convention, an early panel with Star Trek authors broke some news by announcing three new Trek novels coming in 2019. TrekMovie was there and we’re kicking off our STLV 2018 coverage with all the details.

4th Star Trek: Discovery novel to focus on Tilly

Starting with David Mack’s Desperate Hours last September, there have been two additional Star Trek: Discovery novel tie-ins: Dayton Ward’s Drastic Measures, and James Swallow’s Fear Itself, which came out in June. At a panel at Star Trek Las Vegas, Gallery Books editor Ed Schlesinger revealed the next novel in the series will be titled The Way to the Stars, and is being written by Una McCormack. The novel will be released in January 2019. According to Schlesinger, this new novel will “deal with primarily Sylvia Tilly.”

Ed also read off the official description:

It’s not easy being sixteen, especially when everyone expects great things from Tilly. It’s even harder when her mother and father are Federation luminaries, not to mention pressing her to attend one of the best schools that the Federation has to offer. Tilly wants to achieve great things — even though she hasn’t quite worked out how to do that or what it is she wants to do. But this year, everything will change for Tilly, as she about to embark upon the adventure of a lifetime — an adventure that will take her ever closer to the stars.

Tying Discovery novels to the show

Schlesinger also spoke about how he works with Discovery writer Kirsten Beyer and the writers’ room to have the novels tie into the show and have the show tie into the books:

Having Kirsten Beyer in the writers’ room has been absolutely invaluable, primarily because the Discovery universe is being created and shaped and formed and being augmented by the novel program itself. We are able to go back and forth in terms of ideas, in terms of where these characters develop and what we are going to be seeing.

We are also in a very unique position where these ideas are being batted back and forth, and so events and references are being introduced in the novels, that you are going to be seeing on the series, and vice-versa.

John Van Citters of CBS Consumer Products, who was moderating the panel, noted that James Swallow’s recent Saru-focused novel Fear Itself was actually held back as they developed the character. While he noted he couldn’t say anything about the second season of Discovery, it has already been confirmed that there will be an episode in the second season that will visit Saru’s home planet and explore more about the character and Kelpiens in general.

More new Star Trek novels coming from Simon & Schuster

2018 has seen a slowdown in Star Trek novels from Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, but Van Citters and Schlesinger promised things will be picking up again in 2019. In addition to the Star Trek: Discovery novel, they announced two new novels coming in early 2019.

March 2019: The Antares Maelstrom, by Greg Cox

Star Trek: The Original Series novel set during the five-year mission which will explore the Antares Maelstrom referenced by Khan, although he will not be a character in the novel. Schlesinger described the maelstrom as “this vast region of space, of violent energies, that are effectively impossible.”

Here is the official description:

Baldur-3 is an obscure planet just beyond the outer fringes of Federation space, until a group of struggling colonists discover vast quantities of the energy source pergium beneath the planet’s surface. An old-fashioned “gold rush” is now underway—a chaotic situation, as neighboring planets and space stations are vastly ill-equipped to deal with the flood of vessels and aliens competing to get to the planet in time to stake their claims. Although Baldur-3 isn’t technically under Federation jurisdiction, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise are soon diverted to deal with the crisis . . . one which lies on the other side of the dangerous area of space known as the Antares Maelstrom

April 2019: Available Light, by Dayton Ward

Star Trek: The Next Generation novel set in the post-Nemesis era after the events of Ward’s 2017 TNG novel Hearts and Minds and David Mack’s Section 31 novel Control.

Following the panel, StarTrek.com posted the following synopsis for the novel:

As fallout from the exposure of the “Control” AI security program and the unchecked crimes of Section 31 spans the entire Alpha Quadrant and ultimately reaches the halls of Starfleet Command, the admiralty must decide what the consequences will be for their own… including Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who helped bring down a Federation president and violated the principles of his oath. Meanwhile, deep in the unexplored section of space known as the Odyssean Pass, Picard and the Enterprise crew must put aside personal feelings on the matter and distant political concerns as they investigate the mystery a centuries-old massive spacecraft adrift in the void and under attack from marauders looking to claim the ship for themselves—and armed with weapons that are evenly matched with Starfleet’s finest…

Kelvin timeline novels are “in play”

One area of Star Trek novels that has been very much lacking is in the Kelvin timeline. There were a handful of “Starfleet Academy” books years ago, but nothing since 2012, not counting the novelization of Into Darkness in 2013. After an inquiry about this from the audience, Schlesinger offered up some hope that there could be books set in between some of the films, saying:

As things are rolling out, Kelvin is very much in play. One thing we are looking at is – what the Kelvin timeline has established from the three films is a really vast area of the sandbox to play in; Obviously Kirk’s recovery post Into Darkness.

Van Citters agreed that “there is a lot of area to potentially cover” with regards to the Kelvin timeline and saying “it is something we do discuss.” However, he also noted that for the time being they were waiting to find out what was happening with the next movie before they could make any decisions about more Kelvin timeline novels.

The last original novel set in the Kelvin timeline came out six years ago

More STLV to come

We are just getting started with our coverage from Star Trek Las Vegas, which runs through Sunday. If you want to preview what is happening, check out our highlights from the schedule. Stay tuned for more daily coverage here at TrekMovie.com. Also be sure to follow along with our social media reporting from STLV on Twitter and Instagram.

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Killy … I mean, Tilly is one of my favorite characters from the new series. But I’m not sure if I’m interested in reading a novel about her adolescence.

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August 1, 2018 9:38 pm

El Chup

I’m not a big Trek novel reader but I did used to read some back in the 90s and Jeri Taylor wrote a book called Mosaic. Much of it was about Janeway’s youth and time at Starfleet Academy, even her first love affair. I thought it was a good book, and this is in spite of both not being a huge Voyager fan.

It all depends on the quality of the writing I think.

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August 2, 2018 4:02 am

Corinthian7

As I recall that book was quasi-canon with elements of it being referenced on the show.

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August 2, 2018 2:53 pm

Matt

Glad that there are more TNG era novels coming, was starting to fear that the novel series were all going to end

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August 1, 2018 10:02 pm

odradek

The Way to the Stars..hmm.
With so many autism speculations regarding Tilly,they should have called it: Per Asperger ad Astra.

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August 1, 2018 11:22 pm

jako

“With so many autism speculations regarding Tilly”
Sorry but…. What? Never heard of that before and also she didnt act like that… No, not all more or less clever personas apply to Aspberger-Autism..

Tilly isnt… nope…

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August 2, 2018 3:37 am

El Chup

It was a discussion going around after the first few episodes. I think the subsequent character development has dumped the theory.

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August 2, 2018 4:04 am

AdAstraPerAspera

Not funny at all. Autism is not a laughing matter.

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August 2, 2018 4:47 am

odradek

It’s a wordplay. Many people consider wordplays low-brow humor, so there you go. But anyway I didn’t make fun of people with autism.

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August 2, 2018 5:18 am

odradek

FROM TV GUIDE:

Though Tilly wasn’t explicitly written as a character who fell on the autism spectrum, Wiseman says that she’s touched by the fans who identify her as such.

“The fact that people are getting that out of her is so moving and inspiring,” she added. “And the idea that this character that we all built together could make people feel seen or represented and show that they care so much is incredibly moving. I encourage people to put themselves in the show and see themselves in the show, and I’m gonna try my hardest to live up to that.”

What about the “Star Trek: Voyager” novel “To Lose the Earth”? Will it be available sometime in 2019? Please let me know immediately. This is very important.

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August 2, 2018 8:04 am

Mike

A quick Google search says December 2019.

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August 5, 2018 7:11 pm

Jonboc

…they are trying sooo hard to manipulate this series into something people are excited for. Not happening, but props to the people responsible for trying to build interest and hype with this brand. They’re pulling out all the stops.
Now, if they’d just focus on writing a good show.

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August 2, 2018 11:03 am

HN4

Are you watching the same show? I’m shaking my head at you.

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August 2, 2018 12:47 pm

Mike S.

Waiting on the next KT film is likely a smart move. That said, I don’t know if there’s a market for KT novels.

Anyway, I’m real glad to see the TNG-relaunch novels starting up again, especially in light of the new series announcement with Stewart.